To Be Determined
by emilyyfields
Summary: During the summer following the final confrontation with 'A', Emily and Alison finally decide to embark on an official relationship, unbeknownst to their closest friends and family. This story leaves the timeline immediately following the 'A' reveal; it follows the girls as they go about their daily lives, completely 'A'-free for the first time. Rating may be changed later.
1. Chapter 1

"Hanna, let's go!" Emily yelled up the stairs. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she ignored a text from Ali and scoffed at the time; they were going to be late. She angrily dropped her phone on the table in the Marins' foyer and groaned loudly. "Hanna! Come. On."

"Just give me a second!" Hanna threw back.

"You've said that three times!" She let her bag drop from her shoulder to land beside the table, ready to sprint up the stairs two at a time to get Hanna moving.

For the past few weeks since everything had come to light about A and Charlotte and Sara, their lives had wound down and become fairly mundane pretty fast. As mundane as graduation and college prep can be, at least.

At the encouragement of the therapist they had all started seeing at the beginning of the summer, both as a group and individually, all of them were working on spending time in assorted pairs as well as all together as a large group, to start to figure out the dynamics of and navigate their relationships with each other now that there were, in the words of their therapist, 'no longer any negative external forces constantly working against them'. Earlier in the week, Hanna had reached out and texted Emily, asking if she wanted to spend the afternoon with her at one of the newest spas that just opened in Philadelphia. Emily had jumped at the opportunity to spend the day with her; with her and Caleb's impending move to New York City at the end of the summer looming ever closer, Hanna had been very pre-occupied with making sure that everything was in order. In very un-Hanna-like fashion, she had become particularly absorbed with the details, and making sure that everything was accounted and taken into consideration for the big move; everything from their living arrangements, to transportation, to figuring out where they would be doing their laundry.

Of course, it wasn't like Emily had been exactly the most social butterfly in the past few weeks either; once the proverbial smoke had cleared and their lives were finally and gloriously free of A, she and Alison actually had a chance to sit down like the pair of pseudo-adults they were and talk. And then do a hell of a lot more than talk.

They had been an official couple for nearly three weeks, but had both agreed early on that they wouldn't tell the other girls until they were all a bit more stable in the new structure of their lives. It was the one reason why Emily was even remotely nervous about spending the day with Hanna. She knew that if she let her guard down for even a second, she could say something that would give away what's been going on between her and Ali. They had all promised to stop keeping secrets from one another, but Emily figured that their relationship really didn't need to be the other girls' business until she and Ali were ready, and decided to let it be their business.

Hanna had also agreed to get better with her time management, but that was clearly going _super_ well, so Emily figured they could all have a bit of leeway with some things.

"All right, already, I'm coming!" Hanna walked leisurely down the stairs, her thumbs flying rapidly across her phone. "I'm just texting Caleb, hang on."

"You can text him in the car, Hanna, seriously. You're the one who made this spa appointment for us. The least you could do is _try_ to be on time."

"You're turning into your mother; has anyone ever told you that?" Hanna asked, pocketing her phone with a smirk.

"Once or twice, yes. Now let's go." Emily scooped her bag up from the ground and made for the door before Hanna had another chance to further derail their plans.

"Something's got your panties in a particularly difficult bunch today," Hanna remarked as she shut and locked the front door behind them.

"Yeah, it's you," Emily grumbled. "We now have 15 minutes to make a 25-minute drive."

"Mm," Hanna hummed in reply, completely ignoring her and looking down at her phone again. "Wait hang on, I forgot my wallet in the kitchen. I'll be right back." She quickly turned on her heel to go back into the house, leaving Emily even more exasperated.

"If you're not back in ten seconds, I'm leaving without you. I'm serious!" she threw over her shoulder after Hanna's retreating form.

Emily angrily clicked the unlock button for her car an unnecessary amount of times before actually opening the door, climbing into the driver's seat and shoving the key into the ignition. She barely had her seatbelt on before Hanna was nearly sprinting back out of the house, eyes glued to the ground in front of her as she went.

Emily knit her eyebrows together as Hanna dropped into the passenger seat, saying nothing and looking her directly in the eyes as she closed the door behind her.

"What?" Emily asked her after a few seconds of her staring.

"Did you forget something in the house?" Hanna deadpanned.

Emily blinked once, her eyebrows furrowing even further at her question. "Um… I don't think so?"

"Oh, I think you did." She reached into her bag and flourished her prize: Emily's phone.

Her fucking phone, that she left on the foyer table when she was about to run upstairs and physically wrestle Hanna into the car. With the texts from Ali that she had never responded to still clearly displayed on the lock screen for all prying eyes to read.

"You have got some _serious_ explaining to do," Hanna demanded, dropping the phone into her own lap.

"I don't have to explain anything to you," Emily snapped, quickly grabbing her phone and shoving it back into its rightful place in her bag. "Whatever texts you read are _my_ business." She threw the car into reverse and began backing out of Hanna's driveway, desperately hoping that driving would be enough to keep her occupied enough so she wouldn't completely freak out.

"I _knew_ once Ali came back for good that you two wouldn't be able to keep your hands to yourselves for very long. I fucking _knew_ it," Hanna muttered as she pulled out her own phone.

Emily barely refrained from smacking Hanna's phone from her hands; she knew for a fact that Hanna was already texting Spencer and Aria to fill them in on what she found out without even having to see what she's doing.

"'It's really none of your business, Hanna." Emily did her best to keep a neutral tone as she drove, turning left off of Hanna's street.

"I know that after everything that happened with the A shit that we were all working on seriously forgiving Ali and moving in a more positive direction in our friendships with her, but I didn't realize that for you, that direction was directly to bed."

Before Emily had a chance to even formulate a coherent response, Hanna was dialing her phone and lifting it to her ear.

"Who are you calling?" Emily hissed through her teeth as she pulled up to a stop light. She whipped her head to the side to look directly at Hanna, frustration clearly evident on her face.

Hanna held up her finger as she began to speak to the person on the phone. "Hi, Stacey, it's Hanna Marin. Something came up and we can't make our appointment today. Is there any way that I can reschedule that for next weekend sometime? Great! Thanks so much." She hung up, taking no notice of Emily's anger. "I've got connections there. One of the co-owners of the spa used to date my cousin Stephen when they both lived in Chicago."

"Hanna, I don't care about the damn appointment! What do you think gives you the right to-" The car behind them honked and Emily realized with a start that the light had already turned green.

Hanna waved her hand at Emily. "Just drive over to Spencer's house; Aria is going to meet us there and you're gonna fill us in."

Emily felt so tempted to turn around, drive back to Hanna's house, shove her out of her moving car, and completely avoid this upcoming conversation altogether. She knew that they would find out about her and Ali eventually; she was just hoping that, for once, it would be on _her_ terms. And that, when they did find out, that they wouldn't all react like Hanna is right now.

Clearly that was too much to wish for in this friend group.

* * *

"Emily, are you coming?" Hanna ducked her head down to look into the open driver's side window after exiting the car in Spencer's driveway.

Emily glanced up from my phone and gave Hanna a brief, clearly _forced_ , smile. "Yeah, just give me a second. I'll meet you inside."

She narrowed her eyes. "Okay…" Before she made her way into the house, she reached into the car and snatched the keys from the ignition.

"Hanna, what-"

She jingled the keys in Emily's face. "So you don't run away."

Emily scoffed angrily as Hanna sauntered towards the door.

 _The other three found out about us and are cornering me at Spencer's._ _I'm being held hostage. Hanna took my keys. If you don't hear from me in 20 minutes, come help me. Before I kill Hanna._ She sent the text to Ali as she stepped out of the car, taking a moment to lean against the car and breathe. Her phone chimed with a text message not even thirty seconds later.

 _Jesus Christ, they have no boundaries. I'll bail you out in 15. I'll be over earlier if I hear any screaming._

Emily threw a small smile over her shoulder towards where she knew Ali's house stood through the trees, before shouldering her bag and trudging into the house, looking every bit the person going to her very possible execution.

"Well hello, Miss Fields. We're pleased you could join us today." Spencer looked up at her with a quirk of her eyebrow from where she stood, sorting through a stack of letters that were sitting on a small table in the entryway.

Emily stopped in her tracks before her, her eyebrows knit together in irritation. She could already feel her walls coming up in anticipation of the conversation that awaited her in the next room, and she gritted her teeth against the anger that was bubbling up over the fact that she was even feeling like that around these girls in the first place; they were supposed to be the ones that made her feel the safest and most accepted.

Doing her best to suppress her anger for now, Emily rolled her eyes and hefted her bag more securely onto her shoulder. "Can we just get this over with, Spencer? Please?"

"Get what over w-"

Before Spencer could finish her question, Aria's voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Spence, is that finally Emily? Bring her in here!"

Barely managing to suppress a groan, Emily stalked past Spencer into the kitchen, where Aria was busy rooting around in the fridge and Hanna was perched on the arm of the sofa.

"What's got you in such a bad mood?" Spencer asked, following closely behind Emily.

Emily rounded on her immediately, her bag falling from her shoulder. "Really? You're going to ask me that?"

Spencer's eyes widened. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she deadpanned.

Hanna groaned from behind Emily, who could hear the eye roll evident in her voice without even having to see her. "She's just mad cause we finally found out she's been boning Alison on the down-low for weeks."

All three of our voices rang out simultaneously:

"Hanna!"

"What?"

"Really?"

Emily rightfully shifted her anger from Spencer to Hanna; after all, she was the one who had snooped on her phone in the first place and called this impromptu ambush.

"This is all _your_ fault!" Emily started, taking a step towards her. "Why do you feel like you have a right to know what goes on in my romantic life? Why should I have to tell you who I may or may not be having sex with? Why the _fuck_ should I be required to tell you everything?" Her voice slowly rose throughout her tirade, until she was basically screaming at Hanna, jabbing a finger in her face and coming extremely close to shoving her off the couch.

"Jeez, you don't have to get so mad at me! I just wanted to know what's going on in one of my best friend's lives!" Hanna snapped back quickly, her eyes jumping briefly from Emily to Aria and Spencer standing behind her.

"If you suspected anything, you could have just asked me! You didn't have to look through my fucking texts!" Emily replied exasperatedly.

"Oh yeah, cause you would have seriously told me! You don't tell us anything that goes on in your love life anymore until you're basically already U-Hauled up and ready to go!"

"No! You don't get to talk about moving too fast in relationships! You had Caleb _living in your house_ when you guys started seeing each other!" Hanna scoffed, and Emily quickly continued on before she had a chance to respond.

"And you two!" She spun around to look directly at Spencer and Aria, who at least had the decency to look caught off guard. "Let's not forget that Toby was _literally_ working with A while you all were busy doing everything you could to pin it all on Paige! Or the fact that Ezra fucking stalked us for _years_ without any of us knowing!" She immediately cut off Aria, who looked like she was about to jump to Ezra's defense. "No, I don't give a shit what his intentions were. He knew who you were when you two met, he knew what he was doing was wrong, and he did it anyway." Aria let out a long breath, but at least she and Spencer had enough common sense to look somewhat ashamed. Turning back to Hanna, Emily saw her looking down at the floor with her arms crossed, shaking her head. "You guys are all such fucking hypocrites! And do you seriously think that I'm going to tell you guys that I'm with Ali until it's actually official after the 'Paige is A' thing? You guys jumped on that bandwagon awful fast, and she didn't even have half the track record that Ali does with bad behavior!"

"That's exactly my point!" Hanna yelled, finally standing up. "Up until _really_ recently, Alison has done nothing but treat you and the rest of us like shit and take us for granted! I don't see how we're just supposed to let that go and give you our blessing."

"The fact that you think I want or need your blessing to be in a relationship is the most fucking insane thing that I have ever heard come out of your mouth, Hanna, and that's saying something because you've said some seriously dumb shit." Emily knew that she should probably have felt bad about blatantly insulting Hanna's intelligence, since she knew for a fact that that was one of her worst insecurities, but at that point Emily was almost entirely beyond caring. "I get that you all want to protect me, I do, I get it. But you have no right to demand information that is none of your goddamn business."

"Okay, hey! That's enough!" Spencer yelled, attempting to cut off the argument before it had a chance to escalate any further. Emily clenched her fists impatiently at her sides, her anger towards Hanna still bubbling just below the surface.

"No, Spencer! I- Emily, do you seriously not see why we're so thrown off by this?" Hanna exclaimed. Spencer dropped her head into her hands and Aria patted her on the back briefly. "Are you seriously telling me that you've forgiven Alison for how she's treated you? She knew how you felt about her, and she used every opportunity she could to make fun of you for being gay, and for having a crush on her, and-"

"Did you ever wonder _why_ she did that? Did you ever think that maybe her reacting to me like that could have been because she was dealing with something similar herself?"

"No! Literally never! What indication could we have possibly had that that was the case?" Hanna stood up from the arm of the couch angrily, for the first time meeting Emily's furious gaze head-on. "Alison led you on, and teased you relentlessly, and made you feel ashamed of your feelings towards her, and we're just supposed to believe that she was being a psycho bitch because she realized she might be sorta gay too?"

"I don't give a shit what you believe about her motives; what I want is for you to trust that I know what I'm doing here!" Emily's voice had begun to take on a slightly hysterical tone. "I wouldn't have forgiven Ali if I didn't believe her."

"Oh jeez, Em, forgive me for not trusting your judgment on Alison's behavior. Cause you've always been such a good fucking gauge for that! You're too goddamn blinded by your feelings for her that you don't see anything else!" Hanna ran her hands exasperatedly through her hair. "Stop being such a blind, lovesick idiot all the fucking time and _think_ , for once!"

Emily took a step back from Hanna, who threw a hand over her mouth once she actually registered what she had said. Emily blinked quickly a few times before nodding slowly.

"Wow," she breathed. "I'm glad I know what you actually think about me, then."

"Emily, I-" Hanna began, but was cut off by Emily's strangled voice.

"I'm just- I'm gonna go." Emily shook her head quickly and spun on her heel, already halfway to the door before any of the girls moved to stop her.


	2. Chapter 2

Alison stood by the counter in her kitchen, rifling through her purse angrily. As she grew more and more frustrated, she flipped the purse upside down and shook it, its contents spilling out onto the granite countertop.

"What are you looking for, Alison?" her dad asked, walking into the kitchen behind her with his eyebrow raised.

"My phone charger," she growled back as she turned her attention to the zippered pocket on the outside of the purse. "I could have sworn I put it in here last night."

Ken briefly looked up at her while he poured coffee into a travel mug. "Why do you need it so badly?"

"Well, my phone died, and I need it to be not dead," Alison replied as she rolled her eyes at her father's question.

"Okay, well, make sure you find it and charge it in case I need to get in touch with you while I'm gone." Ken screwed the lid onto his travel mug as he went to leave the kitchen, eying the scattered contents of his daughter's purse warily. "And make sure you clean this up before you go anywhere today."

Alison closed her eyes and took a deep breath, doing her best not to lash out at her father. "Yes dad, I'm working on it. And I'll clean up when I'm done."

"Good girl. I'll see you on Saturday," Ken called from the living room, and Alison scoffed at him praising her like she was a dog. "And no parties and no boys while I'm gone!"

Alison smirked to herself as she began to refill her purse. "Oh you won't have to worry about that, father." Her muttered response was drowned out by Ken slamming the door behind him.

Emily had her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she exited the Hastings' driveway, taking a quick left to head towards Alison's house. She could feel the pressure of imminent tears building up behind her eyes, the telltale tightness at the back of her throat and in her nose alerting her that tears were inevitable. She quickly rubbed at her face and swallowed thickly a few times to keep them from falling, at least until she got to Ali.

The sound of a door slamming startled her, and she whipped her head up to see Ali's father descending the steps of their porch, a small suitcase in one hand and a travel briefcase slung over the opposite shoulder. She did her best to pull herself together as they neared his car at the same time.

"Hi, Mr. DiLaurentis," Emily smiled slightly, coming to a quick stop beside the trunk of his car.

"Oh hello, Emily." He briefly looked up at her and barely returned her smile, pressing the button on the key fob to unlock the car and pop the trunk.

"Is… is Ali home?" Emily asked. She worried the inside of her bottom lip between her teeth, hoping she didn't look disheveled enough that he would start asking any questions. Who was she kidding, though? The man barely paid any attention to his own children; he couldn't be bothered paying attention to anyone else's.

"She's inside, turning the house upside down trying to find her phone charger," he replied without looking at her, loading his minimal luggage into the trunk. "If you're going to be here while I'm away, can you do me a favor and make sure that she doesn't get into any trouble while I'm gone?" Emily's heart softened briefly at what she thought was Ali's father's concern, but those feelings were quickly reversed as Ken continued to speak. "I don't need to come home from California to find out that some creep had been camped out in my house for days on end while I was gone."

Emily had to physically bite her tongue to keep from saying what she really wanted to, which involved bitching her girlfriend's father out for essentially calling his own child an irresponsible whore.

Instead, she rolled her eyes heavily as she walked past him towards the house. "I'll do my best."

Mr. DiLaurentis drove away, and his words swirled in Emily's mind as she walked slowly up the porch steps. They settled heavily on top of Hanna's earlier judgment of her relationship with Ali, finally tipping the scales enough to cause the first of her tears to fall as she knocked timidly on the door.

Alison heard a soft noise at the door as she was lifting the couch cushions, still desperately looking for her phone charger. After a few moments of silence, she shrugged, thinking it might have just been the wind, but as she turned back to the couch, a small voice caught her attention.

"Ali, are you in there?"

Alison jumped into action immediately, reaching the door in a few quick strides and swinging it open to find her gorgeous, lovely, sweet girlfriend standing before her, her arms wrapped tightly around herself and tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Oh, baby, no," Alison cooed. She reached forward and ushered Emily inside, closing the front door quickly behind her before engulfing her clearly distraught girl with a hug.

Emily wrapped her arms around Alison's torso and buried her face into her neck, finally feeling comfortable enough to succumb to her tears. She shook with sobs, soaking the collar of Alison's t-shirt far too quickly for her concerned girlfriend's liking.

"Honey, what happened?" Alison asked softly after a few minutes. She continued to rock Emily gently, occasionally running a hand through her hair. "It's not your dad, is it?" The thought occurring to her suddenly and she pulled back slightly.

Emily sniffled a couple of times, her tears calming for the moment, and shook her head as she withdrew her arms from around her girlfriend. "No, my dad's fine."

Alison breathed a momentary sigh of relief before continuing. "Then what happened, honey?" she asked gently.

Emily tried to wipe some of the tears from her face, shuffling her feet nervously. "The girls know about us, and they-"

"Wait what?" Alison raised her eyebrows, momentarily taken aback. "How? I thought we agreed-"

"It was an accident, I swear. I was um… going to the spa with Hanna earlier today, but she was taking forever to get ready, so I was going to run up the stairs and get her out the door. It was right after you had texted me that your dad was going to be leaving town for a few days and that I could stay with you." She paused momentarily, quickly chancing a glance up at Alison. "I put my phone down on that table that's like… right by the entrance to the kitchen, and I forgot to grab it when we left, and then as soon as we were out the door Hanna had to go back inside to get her wallet and she saw my phone, and the texts you sent me were still up on the lock screen, and she basically cornered me when she got back in the car. I'm sorry- Ali, I know we agreed to wait to tell them-"

Alison shook her head vigorously and reached her hands out to calm Emily down, seeing that she was already on the fast track to legitimately freaking out. "Hey, hey, Emily, it's okay." Emily took a deep breath and reached up to put her hands over Ali's that were placed on her shoulders, nodding rapidly at her words. Ali smiled as she continued. "I promise you, it's fine. I was just surprised, that's all."

Emily swallowed against the rising panic in her throat. "You're not mad?"

Alison shook her head emphatically, looking Emily directly in the eyes. "Not at all, Em. I swear." She smiled slightly at Emily, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek. "How did the girls take it?" Emily's eyes began to well with tears again, and Alison pulled her quickly into the living room. "What did they say?" Alison demanded as they sat down. She could feel her defensive instincts kicking in already, fully prepared to physically kick someone's ass for making Emily this upset.

"Hanna cancelled our spa appointment, called Spencer and Aria, and told me to drive to Spencer's. She basically Interventioned me." As Emily felt Ali's grip on her hands tighten, she pulled one of her hands back to place it on top of both of Ali's. "It didn't seem like Hanna had given Spencer and Aria much information; they seemed pretty surprised when Hanna and I started yelling at each other."

"She yelled at you?" Alison exclaimed, pulling her hands away in surprise.

Emily nodded, reaching for one of Ali's hands again as she continued. "At first it seemed like she was just mad because neither of us told the other girls that we started dating, and I told her-" Emily nodded as Alison opened her mouth to speak. "I _told_ her that we had planned to tell them in our own time, once we had more time to settle. Once she really started to get pissed, though, she started, like, questioning your motives behind getting romantically involved with me, and making sure that I remembered how you used to treat me."

Alison subtly shifted away from Emily on the couch so that their thighs were no longer touching, needing to create some distance as she listened to how one of her closest friends still heavily doubted her motives and behavior. She couldn't bring herself to look at Emily, either; the memory of how she used to treat her and the fact that their friends apparently still, deep down, thought her capable of that behavior were mixing together in her mind, slowly becoming a cloud of doubt that threatened to settle over their still young relationship.

"Ali, you know- Alison, look at me," Emily prompted. When Alison didn't meet her eyes, Emily disentangled their hands and gently brought one under Alison's chin to tilt her face up. "You know that I forgive you for that, right?" she asked softly, desperately searching her girlfriend's eyes for an answer. "You need to know that." She leaned forward, resting their foreheads together gently.

Alison swallowed against the tears she could feel rising, and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath before speaking. "I still just… don't understand _how_. I was so _awful_ to you for so long, even though you were the only person in my life who saw me and loved me for me."

Emily allowed a small wistful smile to form, thinking back on how innocently and purely she had loved Ali back then, even without knowing whether or not Ali returned her feelings. "It was hard, I'll admit it." Ali stroked her thumb over Emily's knuckles as she speaks. This was exactly why she had wanted to wait before telling the others that she and Emily were in a relationship. She wanted to give both herself and Emily plenty of time to discuss the intricacies of coming to terms with what their relationship consisted of before and what the reality of it is now. "The way you used to act when we were alone, though, Ali…" Emily's smile grew exponentially at the memory. "It made me feel so special, because I knew you never acted like that with anyone else."

Alison lifted her head from where it rested against Emily's, taking her girl's face in both of her hands and looking her directly in the eyes. "You _are_ special, Emily Fields," she whispered reverently. "You were special then, and you're special now. You're the most special, unique, sweet person I've ever met in my entire life, and I am honored that you've chosen me." She paused for a moment, rubbing her thumbs lightly over Emily's cheekbones. Her eyes flitted over Emily's face. "I just wish the girls could see how much you mean to me."

Emily took Alison's hands in her own once again, removing them from her face and laying them clasped in her lap. "I think Spencer and Aria can. Hanna's just…" Emily took a deep breath. "She's scared that you're going to take advantage of my feelings again, and that I would just let you like I used to."

Alison gasped softly. "Did she say that to you?" Emily nodded, not looking up at Alison from where she was observing their clasped hands. "What did she say?"

Emily just shrugged, not wanting to bring the full power of Alison's wrath down on Hanna. Logically, she knew Hanna had completely valid reasons for being wary about her dating Alison; she voiced them in a very harsh way, but deep down they contained a level of truth and legitimate worry for her friend.

"Em," Alison tried again, shifting back closer to her girlfriend on the couch. "You came over here sobbing, what did Hanna say?" Her voice had begun to take on a level of harshness that she very rarely used when talking to Emily. She had come to hate when she spoke to any of her friends, Emily in particular, with that tone; it reminded her too much of her former self, and the way she could manipulate someone just by shifting her voice. In this instance, however, she felt that it was necessary to get the truth out of Emily. She was clearly holding back something vital from Ali about her confrontation with Hanna, and if how distraught she was when she had arrived at her front door was any indication, it had been a deep and precise blow from Hanna. "Em, whatever she said really hurt you; I need to know what she said to you. I absolutely hated seeing you so upset."

Emily took a deep breath and finally looked up at Alison. "She basically said that she didn't care whether or not you had had motives behind how you treated me before, you still treated me like shit; and that I'm a blind, lovesick idiot for believing you now." She pursed her lips tightly as she felt tears threatening to fall again. "It just really felt like she was insulting my intelligence and ability to make choices for myself, and-" She lifted a hand to her face, wiping away the first few tears as they fell. "The worst part for me was that she still thinks you're capable of hurting me like that, even after all that we've been through together and after everything _you've_ done to keep us all safe." She closed her eyes tightly in an effort to hold back more tears, but a few managed to sneak their way past her eyelids and land heavily on the backs of her and Ali's hands. She inhaled and exhaled a shaky breath and wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. "I love you so fucking much, and it kills me that she can't see it, or get past what happened when we were fifteen. You're nothing like you were then."

After a short pause, Alison lifted a hand and brushed a strand of hair behind Emily's ear. "None of us are," she stated softly. Emily looked up at Ali curiously. "If we were all still the same as we were before, do you think that Hanna would've had the guts to say anything like she did? Would you have had the courage to stand your ground and argue back as one of your best friends yelled in your face?" A hint of a grin played on Emily's face as she shook her head at Ali's words. "Would I have had the courage to admit how I truly feel about you and actually _do_ something about it?" She hesitantly returned the grin that played across Emily's lips. "If we were the same people now that we were back then, we wouldn't have been able to make it this far; we would have crumbled a long time ago. But even though we're different people, deep down we're all still terrified of the same things. Hanna's just scared for you; she'll come around."

Emily pursed her lips and nodded, leaning forward to rest her face in the crook of Ali's neck. "You've come so far, Ali," she spoke into the warm skin of her girl's neck.

Alison pressed her smile into Emily's hair. "I'm so glad I have. I love you so much, Em."

Emily lifted her head and gently took Alison's face in both of her hands. "I love you too, my Ali. So, so much." She pressed their lips together firmly but chastely as Alison brought her own hands up, resting one against Emily's ribcage and lifting the other up to clutch at her cheek.

They pulled away after a few moments, both of them grinning widely as they separated.

Alison cleared her throat. "So what exactly were these texts that Hanna saw on your phone?"

Emily raised an eyebrow at her cheekily. "You know what you sent."

"Yeah, but I don't know exactly which ones she saw. Some were worse than others, if I remember correctly…" she trailed off, absentmindedly drawing shapes on Emily's thigh with her pointer finger.

"Something to do with your dad going out of town, and how we would have a big, empty house all to ourselves for almost a whole week…" She walked her fingers up Ali's arm before poking her in the cheek playfully. "And your liberal use of emojis didn't help to hide the fact that you were basically saying you're planning to fuck me in every room of your house before your dad gets back."

Alison grinned impishly in an attempt to hide the deep blush that overtook her face at Emily's words; her girl hardly ever swore, so when she did, it never failed to get Alison going. One of the blessings that came with having a dad who wasn't around all that often was that she could have her wicked way with her girl, completely uninterrupted, for 6 days straight. She could not _wait_ to take advantage of that.

A loud knocking startled Alison out of her fantasy, which was followed by Spencer's voice echoing from just outside the front door.

"Ali, open up, it's us. Is Emily in there with you?"

But first, they had that to deal with.


End file.
